Advice: Racking up with Ebay

So a college buddy living back on the east coast called me this morning from REI. Abe has been kind of into climbing for a while, and we even climbed a bit together back in Boulder during college (that would be at least 5 years ago now). He is looking to cut his trad climbing teeth on a 3 pitch route in North Carolina that he'd be near to on an upcoming vacation.
"dude, so I'm at REI ~sound of little kids screaming in background~ I'm looking to buy some passive pro, are the BD stoppers any good? What are stoppers, are those the same as nuts? What about cams, why are they so pricey and should I buy a whole rack or just a bunch of the same sizes. Can I get away without them?"
O.K. so all of the sudden I'm the advice go-to guy for gear, which in all honesty makes me feel all at once uneasy and all powerful. I could say, "Here's what you do, hang out at the crag until someone comes along, and then ask them to tow your rope up the climb, they can then set up a toprope for you and you'll never have to lead anything. Or if it's a multipitch, be really chummy and see if their second could tow your rope up each pitch and belay you and your girlfriend up that way. Have a ready supply of Powerade, salami, laughing cow and Cliff bars that you are willing to share, and people will do anything for you, climbers are really nice, er thrifty, er downright cheap like that."
With that, I'd like to introduce the first in an installment of how to get Abe off the ground on trad gear without breaking the bank.
One good piece of advice about buying a first rack that I offered to Abe was to check with Ebay. This is a great resource to get yourself some good gear at a great price. "But you really shouldn't climb on old or used gear, right?"
Well yes and no. If you go out and buy a brand new cam at $70.00, take it up a 5.6 and place it twice you cannot sell it as new any longer. While the integrity of the piece is as good as the day it came out of the display case at the gear store (assuming you didn't fall on it), you couldn't call the piece "new" anymore. So when you are Ebay, how do you tell the difference between a safe new piece and a not safe new piece? Here is how I do it.
It's all in the pictures: Every veteran ebay seller knows that quality item pictures are crucial for used items. This is especially true for climbing gear. I recently sold a few cams on Ebay, and this is the picture I posted for one of them. Of course a picture of the entire cam is included in the auction, but this is the money shot. The key here is that I featured the cam lobes in the photo (another photo features the opposite side as well). You can see that this cam has just about zero nicks in the cam teeth, which is a good indication that it hasn't been placed much and definitely hasn't taken any falls. Don't buy any cams without seeing a picture like this. If it's not in the original auction posting, ask the seller for one.
A caveat is that storing or carrying a new piece in a rack with other pieces will necessarily wear down the anodization (coloring) on the edge of the cam lobes. So a bit of discoloration on the edge of the lobes shouldn't discourage anyone.
A lot of times individuals will be selling their entire rack, or the rack of some friend or relative who has given up climbing (I love the postings that say "trad climbing is just too dangerous and I've decided to sell my whole rack"). This probably means the individual has always found it relatively dangerous, and didn't spend a lot of time falling all over his gear attempting routes over his/her ability level. Again, with any posting, if the seller hasn't done so, make sure to request an up close and in focus picture of the cam lobes before placing any bids, this will help ensure the cam is new or has been placed a limited amount of times without falls, which is the max amount of usage I'd want anyone to accept in a used cam.
These "entire rack for sale" sales are often a great way to get a bunch of stuff for a great price. Often times you might score yourself a bunch of new carabiners, a new nut tool or other random, but useful items. Beware of ones that include items like Figure 8 belay/rappel device, chuinard oval carabiners or old school leather hightop climbing shoes, this shit belongs in a museum or up on your wall, not in your climbing rack.
When it comes to having the latest and greatest gear, well you will have to pony up a little more, even for slightly used new stuff. However the truth be told, cam technology appears to be changing a lot more than it actually is. All cams are built on the same mathematical algorithm and so the basic design from the old school rigid-stemmed Friends to the brand new Camalot C4's follows the same basic principles. That being said, BEWARE any cam being sold that is not UIAA and CE (the gear certification agencies for climbing gear). Stay away from brands you've never heard of or without these certifications. "Certified by the Slovenian National Climbing Committee" should be a pretty good signal to stay away from that brand. Check out the Trango Cam Cup entrants for some interesting homemade cam designs and what NOT to purchase.
Stay tuned for the next posting, I will compare the virtues of BD versus Metolius cams, both of which I have used. I'll try and set up a table of pros and cons and see which are best. I welcome feedback.